1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally devices for improving a golfer's swing, and more particularly, to devices to help eliminate a golfer's leading arm from detaching during the follow through of a golf swing.
2. Prior Art
The essence of a good golf score is a good golf swing. With a good swing, comes more efficient movement, that is, less energy wasted on unnecessary movement, and more energy focused on proper contact between the golf club head and golf ball. With a good swing comes greater distance and straighter flight to a struck golf ball, characteristics sought by most golfers.
A golf swing can be dissected into distinct parts: (1) the back swing; (2) the downward swing; and (3) the follow through. For sake of discussion, I will consider a right-handed golfer. For a right handed golfer, the left side of the body is considered the leading side (e.g. leading arm, leading shoulder) while the right side of the body is considered the trailing side (e.g. the trailing shoulder, the trailing arm). With this designation, in the back swing, the golfer raises the club over the trailing shoulder, twisting his body clockwise to the trailing side thus storing body energy for the coming downswing, and shifting the golfer's weight to the trailing leg. In the downswing, the club is brought down from the trailing shoulder and into contact with the golf ball. During the downswing, the golfer's body "untwists", transforming the stored body energy into club head speed, and shifts the golfer's weight from the trailing leg to the center of the golfer's body. The follow through portion of the golf swing begins at the point of club-ball contact, and ends with the club raised over the leading shoulder. During the follow through, the golfer's weight is shifted from the center of the golfer's body to the leading leg, the golfer's body twists counterclockwise toward the leading side, and the golfer's wrists "turn over." By "turn over" it is meant the counterclockwise twisting of the wrists which should occur after striking the ball, which results in the turning of the club head face from perpendicular to the ground to facing the ground (the wrists also "turn over" on the downswing, but for the sake of clarity, "turn over" will refer only to the wrist movement occurring on the follow through). Preferably, the travel path of the golfer's arms and golf club during the golf swing remain in a single plane, the desired strike plane.
After the initial ball-club contact, the ball remains in contact with the club head for a short duration of time during the follow through portion of the golf swing. Consequently, the position of the club head face during the follow through portion will have a substantial impact upon the flight of the ball, either straight, slice or hook. The position of the club head face during contact with the ball will also have substantial impact upon spin the ball has coming off the club head, and thus will impact the distance of the ball's travel.
During the follow through, the golfer's leading elbow and leading biceps area should be positioned adjacent to the golfer's leading side, preferably with the leading biceps area in almost continuous contact with the leading chest side of the golfer's body. At the end of the follow through, the leading biceps area will slightly separate from contact with the leading chest side of the golfer's body. Further, the golfer's leading wrist should travel in an upward arc-shaped path in the strike plane and centered on the golfer's chest. When this leading elbow position and arc path for the leading wrist are established, the golfer's wrist will more readily "turn-over" and the golfer's weight will more readily shift from the center of the golfer's body to the leading leg, resulting in a straighter ball flight path. A common mistake during the follow through is to have the leading arm "detach" from the golfer's body, that is that the leading elbow becomes substantially separated from leading side of the body. This "detachment" (sometimes called a disconnect, or a flying left elbow) usually results in a weak shot as energy is improperly expended: the shifting of the golfer's weight to the leading leg is adversely effected and the wrist fail to turn over, or turn over too late. Furthermore, a poor shot usually results as the ball is generally sliced because the club head face is left open or facing away from the golfer.
Several devices to help improve a golfer's swing have been devised, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,397,122; 5,188,365; 5,149,099; 4,892,317; 4,691,924; 3,679,215; and British Patents numbers 20,463 and 180,599. Most of these patents employ a series of bands attached to one or both arms in an attempt to restrict the position of the elbows during the golf swing.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,122 shows a device having a waist loop encircling a golfer's waist, with two loops attached thereto, one to encircle the leading biceps area and attached to the leading side of the waist loop, the other to encircle the following biceps area and attached to the following side of the waist loop. This device operated to prevent detachment of the leading arm during the back swing, and of the trailing arm during the follow through.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,365 also shows a device having a waist loop encircling a golfer's waist, with two loops attached thereto, one to encircle the leading wrist area and attached to the leading side of the waist loop, the other to encircle the following biceps area and attached to the following side of the waist loop. The loop attached to the leading wrist has a third loop attached thereto, connecting the leading wrist area with the leading knee area. The device primarily is used to prevent the detachment of the following elbow during the back swing and downswing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,099 shows a complex device having a loop circling around the back of a golfer's neck with the front part of the loop held by the golfer's hands, the neck loop is further connected to a second loop encircling the golfers waist or chest. This device apparently functions to assist a golfer's swing by coordinating the relative movements of both arms during the golf swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,214 also shows a complex device having a series of loops attached to a waist loop, including a trailing shoulder loop, and a trailing forearm loop attached to the leading side of the waist loop. This device is concerned with controlling the trailing elbow during the golf swing.
British Patent 20,463 also shows a waist loop with two elbow loops attached to each other and the waist loop. The two elbow loops are for attaching near a golfer's elbows. This device "ties" both of a golfer's elbows together, so that the separation between the two elbows is maintained during the entire swing, apparently improving a golfer's swing.
Chest loop devices with a single leading arm biceps area loop tethered to the chest loop are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,892,317; 4,691,924 and British Patent 180,599. These devices try to prevent the detachment of the leading elbow during the follow through by tethering the leading arm biceps area to the golfer's leading side, thus restricting the ability of the leading elbow to move away from the body. However, to keep the leading elbow adjacent to the leading side, the tether must be kept short, thus adversely impacting the movement of the leading arm on the back swing and the downswing. Further, these devices do not guide the leading wrist into an arc-like path during the follow through.